Travel Power Pools...

It'll never happen.

But how great would it be if the tier four powers in those pools were reworked so that they were actually worth getting? With temporary travel powers that you can buy at WW's or earn in bank missions, the ninja run expansion power, all of the various teleport powers available and so on, travel pools in general have really lost their luster.

Consider:

Super Speed - keep this tier 4 power because it actually has its uses and players do take it from time to time. No real need for re-work in my opinion.

Teleport - please oh please GOD make this the 'Mission teleport' currently available with the MAC expansion. Imagine if you could teleport to your mission directly even from other maps. It would make teleport actually FEEL like teleportation. Give it maybe a 12 or even 15 minute timer so that it would theoretically be up for each mission. The code and mechanic is already in place so it would be a simple matter to make the switch.

Super Jump - Acrobatics is nice, but a pain to get to for the benefit it offers. I say add to it a solid defense debuff resistance component. That would fit thematically and make it something useful to a wide variety of builds. Again, would require minimal code changes.

Flight - People complain that Fly is too slow and rightly so. Make the tier 4 power something like 'Sonic Speed Flight', where the character's flight speed is upped to that of Super Speed at least, but at an enduance cost that's difficult to maintain for long and perhaps an 'only affecting others' component as well - something similar to Quantum Flight that the Khelds have.

Really, how often do you see 'Team Teleport' or 'Group Fly' used by anyone? Or even taken? The powers above would be taken, used and enjoyed far more often by players, would fit the flavor of the travel power pools nicely and would do nothing to unbalance the game whatsoever.

I'd like to see something to make these powers worth taking but I doubt it'll happen. They like to hide behind the 'cottage rule' which is just a cop out so they don't have to go back and redo things that are dated.

The obvious way to get around the cottage rule (which is a good rule IMO, since people do take these powers) is to add a second Tier 3 power to each travel power pool.

It worked for the epics with the Tier 2's.

And I think thats a really good point Wiggz, about why people take travel powers. I'm more and more just relying on jetpacks and teleport temps to get around, and part of that is that none of the travel powers open up anything really attractive.

I think the biggest offender is Group Fly because it's a group debuff, knocking 25% off everyone's tohit. I have no idea why this artefact of days gone by has hung on to Group Fly; even if we dropped the tohit debuff, it's so situational (virtually useless indoors) and has such a high endurance cost that I really can't imagine using it anywhere outside of a Hami raid.

Really, I'm surprised it has survived the way it is for so long.

I've used Group Fly on a few characters, and had a SG mate who ferried me a round sometimes, just for fun.
Its a terrible power in many ways, but it does get used.

Anyway, the mission teleport is a great idea for an alternate Tier 3. Yeah, I'd love that.

Superspeed-fast flight would be OK as a tier 3, I guess, assuming the flight cap was increased for it. (And I dont know if this is technically possible due to streaming speeds when you're flying over a map from a bairds eye view and its having to load scenery in. But, these are the days of Ultra Mode, so I guess its possible..)

Balance wise - you could have slow vertical movement cheap (2 powers) like you do now, but I bet you'd see a lot of people taking Hover and Air Superiority to get to Sonic Flight, and they're not making a bad pick either way there - Hover and Air Sup are both pretty good pre-req powers.

Of course, the question then would be - what do Speed and Leaping get as their new Tier 3s?

They aren't going to give Mission Teleport as part of a pool. Why? Because that would invalidate the one people actually paid money for.

What's more likely is a 'Beacon Teleport' - where the character can instantly warp to any of the area beacons that they have uncovered in the zone they are in. That would cut down TP's annoyance factor, a lot.

For the others... I don't know. Most of the things I can think of that would fit in with the sets... are either impossible with the engine, or would be overpowered.

Flight: I don't think Group Fly needs to be replaced. The concept behind the power is sound, its the mechanics that need to be altered. The ability to grant flight to an entire team is fantastic and the aura that comes with it are great. The 60' radius and 25% ToHit debuff aren't. That debuff needs to either be removed or switched to an Accuracy debuff. Since just about everyone slots for Accuracy a -25% hit wouldn't be nearly as crippling. Group Fly just isn't anywhere good enough to have such a hefty penalty.

Teleportation: Team Teleport is one of those powers that works well but is limited to very specific situations. For example, it's decent for moving your teammates around spawns (But why go through the hassle when you can just use Recall Friend?) or dropping your team in the middle of a group of enemies (A tactic really only useful to specific team makeups and Masterminds with melee pets).

Speed: Whirlwind isn't exactly a bad power but it's got a bad rep. It's basically Repel with lower mag Knockback and a much higher End cost (1.5 End/sec? Ouch). Knockback always gets a bad rap but it's a useful effect. I say keep it. The only thing the power really needs is a slight reduction in the cost. A small, lingering ToHit or Defense debuff effect would be a nice bonus.

Leaping: I think Acrobatics is fine as is but I've never had a use for it on any of my toons. The only real issue I can see with the power is that its largely made redundant by other means. Most players who take Acrobatics do so for the Knockback protection. But the same result can be had for a relatively minor expenditure of resources on a KB protection IO.

A couple things:

When I say 'no one', I don't mean to be speaking in absolutes, I'm speaking relatively. For instance - how many people for instance take Group Fly in relation to how many people take all the pre-requisites necessary for it (i.e. Hover, Fly) and still don't? Almost no one. Obviously I don't have the percentages in hand but I don't think it'd be off to hazard a guess at less than 1%.

Nonetheless, we discussed that and agreed that a fair compromise would be adding an additional upper tier power rather than making a switch. The upper tier that still requires you to get the two pre-req's. So relax. I'm offering up ideas here to help improve the game experience for everyone, not sitting back and acting like some kind of disdainful know-it-all nay-sayer.

Also, the powers becoming available as top tier pool powers in no way invalidates or discourages the purchase of those expansions for the following reasons:

1) There are lots of other reasons to buy the expansions than just that 1 power. I personally do it for the costume options and consider the bonus powers just that - a bonus.

2) You get the benefit of that 1 power immediately and free from power slotting, whereas an additional top-tier pool power requires that you wait until at least level 20 and invest three power choices to get it.

3) You get the benefit of that power on EVERY character you make, not just the ones for whom teleport is appropriate and don't have to use up one of your potential 4 pool power choices to get it.

I for one see no reason why Group Fly shouldn't be converted into a Click Power modeled on the clearly working example of Inertial Reduction in Kinetics. 1 minute duration PBAoE +Fly to all friendlies that recharges in 1 minute.

S imple
E asy
E ffective

Not being done.

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Ideally ... Team Teleport would be an AoE Modifier to Recall Friend, Teleport Foe and Teleport.

You activate Team Teleport, and for the next 1 minute you get the following effects:

Team Teleport + Recall Friend:
All team members, including their pets, in the current instance are teleported to the chosen location. Think Assemble The Team style modifier for Recall Friend.

Team Teleport + Teleport Foe:
Teleport Foe becomes a Target AoE attack which will teleport Foes to the chosen location. Think Gravity Control's Wormhole, without the Stun.

Team Teleport + Teleport:
Teleport becomes a PBAoE power which teleports yourself and all team members and pets within the PBAoE radius to the chosen location. Essentially the functionality of Team Teleport right now, except that now Teleport is required to gain this functionality through a power combo. Range for Team Teleporting in this manner is essentially unchanged from using Teleport. Team Teleport simply adds -1 Endurance for each affected target when using Teleport, although this endurance cost penalty can be diminished by Endurance Reduction enhancements.



Dirt simple as far as concept goes, and I know for a fact that it is now possible to give powers effects which are contingent upon other powers being in effect. The game tech already exists to make such things possible.

So why isn't it being done already?

Someone convince War Witch and Positron that it would be worthwhile to put this on Castle's "to do" list for the next Issue getting worked on, and it will be done.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

honestly between temp and ninja run....I dont take travel powers.

Fly is stupid slow, STILL. Superspeed has too many flaws and Teleport is crap compared to how the computer can use it.

Superjump is my all time favorite and it does everything the rest of those powers cant, which is get me to a mission quickly with few slots. Jump pool also has Cj which is damn good, too bad jumpkick and Acro are so skippable.

If the devs wanted to sink some cash, they could make SJ a buyable temp power for a cool mil and Id pay it every time. That and monkey fight club betting....

The problem with taking Group Fly into a click is that the target has no way of landing, since they can't turn the toggle off.

With Inertial Reduction, you can not jump by well... not jumping, but you still cant turn it off and jump normally.

With fly forced on you for the next 60 seconds or whatever, you could be locked out of using certain powers.

Rooted and Granite Armour could be made to negate the flight, that would make sense, but what about Hot Feet or the Earth and Plant powers that require contact with the ground? What about Grounded in Electric Armour?

"Click Group Fly" really needs to add a temp power to the user or something, or cancel itself when the target presses down, or something like that. With either of these its not obvious how to implement that in a nice intuitive way.

As it is, Group Fly can be a griefing tool. This would make it worse.

Its far from a simple problem to fix Group Fly. I love the idea of the power, but its a real pain to implement just right.

If Group Fly is a click, what happens if the group is flying somewhere and the GF-granting toon forgets to 'click' when the first runs out? No, this really *needs* to be a toggle, or if it's a click it needs to be made durationless - i.e., it lasts until you 'land' (or are forced to land by getting hit with a -fly effect)

Like was stated before...I know it won't happen...BUT...

What I'd like to see is along the above lines. Take all 4 travel powers, pull them out of their respective pools and make one travel pool so any 1 of them can be chosen. This pool is available at level 6 and it is not considered one of the 4 pools that you have restricted today. Replace the powers pulled from the pools with others that relate to the corresponding genre. I would love some defensive version of teleport, like combat teleport where you are "blinking"...but not actually give you a seizure type of blinking. Also love the idea of mission tp as a selectable power.

Benefits of a travel pool: Take any one or all of the travel powers and not shoot yourself in the foot for pools selection because you want to fly, but you want to take acrobatics in jump and medicine and fitness or any other combination. Yes I've had builds that become frustrating because I can only take 4.

(FYI: I'm a vet who has the benefit of travel power selection at 6 and think everyone should have that as well.)

I realize this is just a wish and won't go anywhere, but glad others are voicing it as well.